New Murder Trial Under Way / Suspect's mental state delayed action in UC student's death

Erin Hallissy, Chronicle East Bay Bureau

Published
4:00 am PST, Thursday, January 25, 1996

After almost six years of delays and one mistrial, the new trial for a man charged with murdering UC Berkeley student Sally Mayne began yesterday with the defense attorney saying his client did not intend to kill the woman.

Freeman conceded that Fountain, 24, robbed and raped the 20- year-old Lafayette woman after she was kidnapped on March 11, 1990. However, Freeman said Fountain's co-defendant, Julian Covington, fired the fatal shots.

Freeman said that because Fountain did not intend to kill Mayne, he cannot be convicted of special circumstances of committing a murder during a rape, robbery and kidnapping -- charges that make the death penalty possible.

"Jamal Fountain was an accomplice," Freeman said. "He was not the shooter."

Covington was convicted of murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping in 1991 and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Although Covington and Fountain were arrested shortly after the crime, Fountain's trial was delayed for years because he was judged mentally incompetent. His first trial began in 1994, but ended a few weeks later when he jumped up in front of jurors and punched his defense attorney, breaking his glasses and drawing blood.

Because of security concerns, Fountain is chained to his seat while the current trial is in progress. Jurors cannot see the chains, which are hidden by Fountain's clothing and a cloth attached to the back of the chair.

Freeman, who was appointed to replace the injured attorney, told jurors that Fountain is a schizophrenic who "snapped" after Covington shot Mayne. He said Fountain was a "mama's boy" who was submissive to the far more aggressive and violent Covington.

Deputy District Attorney Brian Baker, however, told jurors he will prove that Fountain participated fully in the crime and that he was carrying the murder weapon when he was arrested 10 days later for a Marin County robbery.

Baker described Mayne as a bright, ambitious student who was active in swimming, water polo and hockey. She played hockey the night she was killed, and was last seen alive by a teammate at Berkeley Iceland at 12:25 a.m.

Her body was found the next morning, washed up on the shore of San Francisco Bay at Point Isabel in Richmond.

Before being killed, Mayne was forced to withdraw $600 from an automatic teller machine and then driven in her own car to Point Isabel, Baker told jurors.

The prosecutor said Fountain confessed to raping Mayne, but said he only did so after Covington ordered him to. Baker said DNA evidence will also prove that Fountain orally copulated her.

After being assaulted, Mayne tried to flee by running into the bay, Baker said.

"She had tried to swim away from her abductors. It was one last desperate attempt on her part to try to escape," he said. "She did not succeed."